The Florida Department of Tourism Loves The Tates

Pirate family aboard the "Pirates Ransom"




Headed out of town on the People Movers at Dulles



Fine dining at Rusty's


Toes in the Sand!

Connor and a load of sponge in Tarpon Springs

The sponge boat half unloaded

Connor on Captain Memo's Pirate Cruise

The updraft air tube at the Museum of Science and Industry

Gyro at Mama's in Tarpon Springs

We just love Frenchy's. The rum punch. The grouper. The corn dogs. Its all good.

Yes. We went back to that peninsula of joy. The Sunshine State. Governor Crist should be sending us a note of thanks any day now. We originally visited Clearwater two years ago on a lark. First, there was a nice Sheraton on the beach that received decent reviews on Trip Advisor. Second, a friend told me it was a nice place for family beach time--meaning, no skanky boardwalk, no loud clubs, etc. Turns out--we loved it. So we went back again this year and we still love it. The only catch this time is that we had alot alot alot of rain. Not that I was keeping track or anything....but half the days were cloudy and rainy. I honestly can't remember what we did other than the one day we thought we'd drive south to Naples and escape the rain on the radar. But, as is usually the case with such cagey plans, the weather swung south and we ended up driving across the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in tropical storm type rain with black sky and violent wind gusts. That little jaunt took up 4 or 5 hours. We also went to the Museum of Science and Industry and went to see Transformers 2. It was a pretty nice trip, regardless. More than the rain, the biggest barrier to happiness was the grumpiness of the participants, which, I guess, you could blame on the rain. We definitely all got on each other's nerves at various points. Next trip will be to a desert climate OR ELSE!